Cycle Chic Around the Globe

Forget the spandex. Cycle chic means making bikes central to the lives (and the style) of urbanites everywhere.

posted Oct 25, 2010

In 2007, Mikael Colville-Andersen took a photo of a girl riding her bicycle through Copenhagen. Since called "the photo that launched a million bicycles," it blossomed into a blog called Cycle Chic, which in turned spawned Cycle Chic blogs in dozens of cities worldwide.

What's the message of Cycle Chic? "Cycling's easy. Cycling's gorgeous. Cycling's a great way to get around your city," says Colville-Andersen. It's the idea that biking is more than a form of exercise for the Spandex-clad—that it can be an integral part of the lives (and style) of urbanites everywhere.

Colville-Andersen maintains that Cycle Chic "is not just pretty pictures—it's advocacy." In South Carolina, Kristin Walker (who maintains Charleston Cycle Chic) argues that encouraging her neighbors to bike to dinner is a way to improve her city: "The more people who get on bikes, the more bike-friendly our city can become."

Interested?

Whether it's in
lycra or heels, the emerging movement of "come as you are" cycling
proves that anyone can bike–anytime, anywhere.

: Lessons from the Dutch. We,
too, can transform biking from a recreational pastime to an integral
part of our transportation system.

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